CA Brings Out Next Wave of ‘Mainframe 2.0’ Deliverables

CA has introduced new capabilities in its mainframe management product portfolio. These new offerings represent the second round of deliverables for CA's "Mainframe 2.0" initiative, announced in November 2008 to simplify the governance, management, and security of IBM's z/OS platform, notes David Luft, senior vice president of software engineering for CA's Mainframe Business Unit. By streamlining essential mainframe management tasks, the Mainframe 2.0 portfolio is aimed at supporting less experienced mainframe staff while also enabling experienced mainframe professionals to focus on more demanding responsibilities.

Separately, CA unveiled its new name - CA Technologies - to demonstrate its commitment to managing and securing IT environments and to deliver more flexible IT services to its customers. The new name was announced at CA World 2010 in Las Vegas, the company's annual customer conference.

CA is also running its second annual May Mainframe Madness event, says Luft. The free virtual conference that runs for the entire month of May, offering customers information about Mainframe 2.0 and CA's mainframe solutions. With more than 40 keynote sessions spread over every business day in May, the event features more than 150 sessions and demos overall.

CA has introduced a new version of CA Mainframe Software Manager, a key component of the Mainframe 2.0 strategy. The company is also delivering multiple product portfolio updates, additional health checks, and a new level of the CA mainframe software stack, which are lab tested and certified by CA to take advantage of the latest CA and IBM z/OS technologies. The new release of CA Mainframe Software Manager simplifies how novice and expert mainframe staff install and maintain CA products, helping to boost productivity by adding deployment services and enhancements to software acquisition and installation services. CA Mainframe Software Manager continues to be available at no extra charge to customers on active maintenance.

CA's mainframe software stack features support for the Mainframe Software Manager, serviceability enhancements, and leverages enhanced CA lab testing to help customers improve operational efficiency and maximize value from their CA software. CA tests are focused on verifying its mainframe software takes advantage of the latest releases of CA technologies and the IBM z/OS stack. In addition, there are multiple product updates across CA mainframe product lines that the company says are consistent with the Mainframe 2.0 goal of enhancing business value while simplifying management. New Health Checks that help maximize the availability of CA mainframe software for users by leveraging IBM's Health Checker capabilities to monitor the customer's environment on an ongoing basis and confirm that CA solutions are optimally configured.